A One-Armed Journey - Alex Fourie - Chasin' Birdies

Episode Transcript
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>> Jonathan (00:00):
Foreign.
We m are back kicking it this week here
on a new episode of Chase and Birdies. And
I'm joined by my man as always, Mr.
Jonathan Pepe. J.P. baby, we're
shaking.

>> RB (00:18):
Oh, not much, man. Not my pockets,
uh, after the Super Bowl.

But um, I
say that, I say that sarcastically. Okay.
I always say JP Was shaking. It's like I'm in
contact with you seventy hundred thousand
times.

>> RB (00:34):
Mhm.

A day.

>> RB (00:36):
A day.

But you know, just for listeners, whatever. Right.

>> RB (00:40):
We act like we don't talk to each other.

Correct.

>> RB (00:42):
Until we do this, which has been a little bit.

It has.

>> RB (00:46):
So it feels good to be back after a little
hiatus. Um, today's
episode is still brought to you by Red Vanley, which is
amazing. Uh, so make sure you go check them
out@redvanly.com
um, their spring
gear is all out right now and ready to
be purchased by you for the spring and

(01:06):
summer. And the uh, Chase and Birdies two man brought to
you by Red Vanly is in
July and I. Dude, we're
increasing to 48. We already have 33 people
signed up and I'm shocked that there's some people that have
not signed up. They're friends. Um,
but regardless.

Yeah, no, it's uh, it's starting to make
its way up past the uh, 50%
percentage point of being full. But uh, we
still got a ways to go. We got people that, you know, have
verbally committed but hadn't signed up yet. But things,
uh, will start taking shape in that regard. But it's. Yeah, like
you said, man, it's been, it's been a little bit of some time here since

(01:47):
our last episode with Natalie Sheehan.
Um, but, but I, I do got to say
lots happened in this, in this three, three to
four week period, even though we've had, um.
Well, let's just get right into it. You know, you kind of alluded to the
pocket change a little bit here. And this past
weekend we witnessed the super bowl and, and,

(02:07):
and the Philadelphia Eagles took down the Kansas City
Chiefs. So tell me your.
What's your reaction to that? How you feeling about
that?

>> RB (02:16):
I was ecstatic for, for the Eagles. Well, mainly because
I took them, um, I took the
Eagles, um, and then I took the over
48 and a half. And then in the second half I actually
took, uh, the Chiefs minus seven, which did not hit.
And then I took over 23 and a half in the
second half total. And that hit. Yeah, so it was,

(02:36):
it was three out of four. Um, which excites
me and um, but I.
Man, did they pound them. They pounded the Eagle.
The Eagles pounded the Chief. Sorry.

Yeah. I never once thought about taking the Chiefs in
this Super Bowl.

>> RB (02:51):
Like a week and a half ago, I was taking the Eagles.

Yeah, likewise. It was never a question for
me, to be honest with you. And I remember I talked to Steve
Piering about this maybe two weeks ago now, and he didn't
think it was even going to be a game. I asked him who he thought
he was going to win, and he said, chiefs all day. It's not
going to be a game. And I'm sure a lot of people
thought that. But, uh, what was surprising to me was

(03:14):
that Saquon Barkley was held to basically nothing.
I, uh, mean, he didn't have a touchdown.

>> RB (03:19):
The Chiefs were held to nothing
offensively all game.

But damn that defense, you know, and that's what Jalen Hurts
said in the post game interview. Defense wins championships. They set him
up. The offense in good position and offense capitalized,
but I was never
worried. That was like the only game this whole year
where I sat there and I just kind of knew. I'm like, you know what?

>> RB (03:41):
Yeah, we just chilled on the beach.

It's going to be the Eagles and South Beach. Yeah.

>> RB (03:45):
Um, I mean, I couldn't remember the last
time that Mahomes threw a pick, let
alone a pick six and then followed that up with a
pick. Yeah, it was just.
And that was a great interception. Um, I mean, the guy
jumped out of nowhere for it. But
regardless, they got dominated on
both sides of the ball. I think the first time

(04:07):
the Chiefs made it past half field is when they
scored, which was like beginning of the fourth
quarter.

Yeah, it was, uh, it was pretty.
It was. It was dominated by the Eagles. There's no
two ways about it.

>> RB (04:21):
So. And that was a little closer than,
than it actually was. But.

But it was a great overall past weekend. I mean, the Waste Management
was going on. You had Liv golf playing
over under the Lights, I guess nobody cares about.
But, but. Well,
that's the thing, because the guy that won, Adrian
Moronic or Morono, whatever his name is, I. I
never. Honest to God, I never heard him ever. I never heard

(04:48):
of him. I turned it on to check it out. Um, under the Lights kind of a
cool vibe. But at the end of the day, what. Especially when you had the Waste
Management going on, it's not even. You can't compare the
two tournaments.

>> RB (04:58):
Well, I mean, the only thing that live has
is they have a lot of names on their tour.

Well, apparently now earlier this week, it was announced that
the players are going to have a pathway to the
Open Championship. Now qualifying lane for them,
which was kind of breaking news, I think came out Monday.
But, um, that's gonna be,
you know, that'll be. So we'll see what happens with. With
this whole thing. I know it's kind of getting close from what we hear,

(05:24):
um, between the two, but, you know, it still probably
has some. Some things to be ironed out. But the Waste Management.
Did you watch?

>> RB (05:31):
I was just out there. Well, I was just out there.

Oh, yeah, you and BK got to go
peg it at Whisper Rock.

>> RB (05:37):
Whisper Rock, lower course. Um,
yeah, it was great, dude. My birdie count for the year is up to
10.

Okay.

>> RB (05:45):
Um, so I made, uh, the
front nine. I. I hit the ball well, but I just didn't score. I shot
41. 5 over. I'm thinking to myself,
what the hell, man? And I got to the back nine and
shot four under. And, uh, good.
Get in the groove. Made some putts, uh,
the greens, man, at Whisper Rock. I'm not kidding you.

(06:05):
They're probably 14. They were just
so smooth and they were so fast and they were so good.
Everything was so good about Whisper Rock. So,
um.
But, yeah, we played and played there, and
the Waste Management was. Started that Monday when we were there.
There was a nice little vibe about it, man. Yeah,
the Waste Management's a pretty big
event, obviously.

(06:28):
Um, but it was good to see Justin
Thomas start firing on some cylinders,
getting back into the swing of things, hold out on 18 to get
the 15 under strong, uh, finish
him. So it'll be exciting to see how that shapes out.

No, they. Spieth was playing. I mean, some of the boys are
playing good. And Dietrich, obviously, who. Who wins the
event? I mean, he. He looked solid in that final round.
I mean, the shot he hit on, I think Berger went
a little deep on 16, and, uh, which. That
pin was all the way back, but, man, he hit a shot right in there on
16 to, like, 2ft. It was
beautiful. So hats off to him for getting a

(07:04):
dub. And, um. And we'll
move on into the next week of PGA Tour
golf.
But our guest today on Chasing Birdies,
Alex Forey joins us. And, uh,
remarkable story. Honest to God,
remarkable story. One arm golfer, number two, ranked one
armed golfer in the world, was, uh,

(07:25):
basically brought over here,
adopted by family from Ukraine. I mean, the
family is from America, but, um, came to
Alabama, Birmingham, and
fell in love with the game of golf. And my man can play some
golf. It's not like he's out shooting like 85,
86. I mean he's shooting six, seven, under two
over. Like he's the head pro at the 500

(07:47):
Club in States. Is it Statesville?
Statesville, North Carolina.
Um, so, dude, it's like,
I think it's a great story.

>> RB (07:58):
It's a remarkable story.
So, um, without further ado, I think that
we should just roll it on over to him, let him tell his story
a little bit and tune
in.

Yeah, you guys enjoy this one. You're
tuning in today to Chase and Birdies.
And we are joined by probably one of the most
special guests we've had to date on the
show with Alex Fory joining us. Uh,
Alex has accomplished a lot in his golf
career with one arm and it's, it's

(08:30):
really fascinating to see, man. So I gotta tell you, I'm
really excited to, to have you here on the show today. And thank
you, uh, for coming on.
Thank you guys. I'm looking forward to it.
Yeah, I mean, golf's hard enough,
man, you know, and, and to, you know,
doing some research on you, reading a little bit, seeing some of the things
that you've accomplished, man, it's like, it's like, it kind

(08:53):
of is humbling in a way. You know what I mean? Pep.

>> RB (08:56):
Yeah, for sure. I mean. And doesn't he sit
next to the Daytona 500 trophy?

Yeah.

>> RB (09:02):
Which is pretty cool. Um, and, and
I'm. The animals are behind me if you guys need to know what
kind of animals there are. The elephant, the
lion, the deer. That's my background.
So, uh, yours a little cooler than mine. But
yeah, to, to like you said, bash that they
accomplished. What you've accomplished is absolutely
incredible. Um, you know, it was. I was

(09:24):
on social media scrolling the other day and Desire
Golf posted a video of you funny
enough, um, if anyone
would beat you. And um, that
video, I mean, how many likes that thing
get?

Uh, uh, a good bit blowing
up for sure.
It's crazy. You know, and we'll get into all
the, the whole story about you and
all that jazz, but you know, for the ice breaking part of
it right now, where are you? In North Carolina and Statesboro?
Yeah, some 500 club in Stakesville,
North Carolina. About 35 minutes north

(10:00):
of uh, downtown Charlotte.
Okay.
And uh, it's a really, really cool golf course
since um, you know, we got new ownership
about a year and a half ago. And a bunch of
uh, max are legend, uh, own it. And
so you never know who's playing golf out there.
And I Uh, I, I'm not
normally star struck, but first week was a little

(10:23):
star striking for sure. I definitely
grew up watching, you know, being from, well, I'm
from Ukraine, but I grew up in Alabama. And so we had
Talladega. So you watch two races
and it was Talladega and Daytona.

>> RB (10:36):
So, so who, who was, who were
you starstruck by the first time that you
new, um, owners were there?

Definitely, ah, Earnhardt for sure.
Oh, wow.

>> RB (10:47):
It's pretty, it was pretty cool.

You know, NASCAR is one of those things that everyone that
get is into it or at some point has
experienced it say that, you know, it's
incredible. Um, I've just
never, you know, I've watched it on tv, but they say the
races in person is just like an incredible
experience.

>> RB (11:06):
I mean, my God, bunch of left turns.

So, yeah, four left turns. That's
it. But it's really cool getting to
know these members and these owners and
a lot of these members drive are currently
on, on the circuit. And, um, it's been
really cool getting to know them. They've invited me
to, uh, their garages and

(11:27):
getting to look at all the intricate parts
and details these cars go
through and maintenance. And
there's so many pieces that
make the car go. And then
on top of that, you have to add the human
element to that.
Yeah.

(11:48):
Uh, and so, yeah, it's a big,
uh, it's really, really cool. It's a team effort.
It's. And there's a lot of similarities
to, you know, NASCAR and golf that I'm learning
for sure.

>> RB (12:00):
I wonder, uh, what Ryan and I's time would be on
changing a tire.

Dude, you can actually
do that, uh, at Charlotte Mother Speedway
here, uh, you can, you can get a group and
see how, how quickly you can change a tire.

>> RB (12:16):
Maybe that's something we got to do, man.

But come to Charlotte for the
PGA Championship and we'll get you out there.
Well, that'd be good. You know what? We might, we might have to do that. I
have some family in Charlotte, so it's a great city, great golf
town. Um, but what the 500 club.
So I know obviously you just mentioned that's. And that's where you
are the assistant pro or, uh, teaching
pro. No, you, you just

(12:40):
got. Okay, yeah, head pro out there.
And that's been really cool. A little different
than, um, what I'm used to, but it's been really
cool. And just, uh, uh,
they asked me, what do you do? I'm like, ah, what
don't I do?
Well, um,

(13:01):
did you say head pro?
Yes, sir. Yep. First disabled, uh, hub pro
in. In America, actually, so.

>> RB (13:07):
Wow.

Damn. Congrats.

>> RB (13:10):
That's amazing, man. M. Congratulations.

Thank you. I appreciate that. Yeah.
So I know a little bit about your
background. You know, born in Ukraine
and, you know, moved over here to, uh.
Was it Alabama?
Yeah.
At a young age in Birmingham. And, um,
naturally, you know, was. Was disabled on your

(13:32):
journey here. But what was
that like growing up as youth
and seeing other kids and people
have full reigns of. Of their
extremities, if you will, and you,
um, in this position of. Of not. I
mean, did that give you more motivation? Do you feel
mentally, um, to. To achieve

(13:54):
more or want more?
Yeah, yeah, not
bad. But it was definitely. I grew up trying to
prove myself, and I, uh, knew
that I could do it through athletics, and,
um, I was pretty gifted. Anyways, uh,
on top of adding that
motivation, so I played basketball,

(14:15):
football, soccer, tennis, golf,
uh, across the country. I did it all.
Um, it was really cool. Uh,
my dad really let me play all the sports, which
I think was really, really important.

>> RB (14:28):
That's amazing.

My dad is a twelfth sport collegiate
athlete in South Africa too, so.
Damn.
I always say that, uh, your dad.

>> RB (14:38):
Was a 12 sport collegiate athlete in South
Africa.

It was wild. Yeah.

>> RB (14:43):
I mean, I didn't know there's 12 sports. What did he do?

Yeah, he, uh, he did it, uh. He did it
all. But, yeah,
it was wild.

>> RB (14:53):
And I mean, that's the thing too, is, you know,
talking to you about your. Your story and, you
know, people think. Some people think, oh, my days shitty and
this, that and the other. And, you know, somebody like
yourself, you seem like a
absolutely happy person and.
And, uh, you're smiling, and I think that's important
too.

Yeah. Attitude is everything.
So, you know, you wake up and,
yeah, I should not be alive. Uh, I should have been, you
know, in that orphanage and probably dead.
Um, and so that's why we did the
whole, uh, nonprofit getting
kids out of Ukraine or in a jig. We
moved about 8, 000 gigs out. Um, it

(15:38):
was really cool. But, yeah, I felt their pain because
I was in their shoes. And, um. And so,
um, any day that you get to wake up is
a good day. Um, and then, you know, what do you
do with that day?

>> RB (15:51):
It's true.

Yeah, it's. It's all a mindset, man, and
perspective. And, you know, it's
especially for. And I hate to say it,
but, like, we have a bad day on the
golf course or whatnot. You know, it could riffle through the rest
of the day, you kind of pissed off. You know, you hit, you hit the ball
left, you hit it right. You're, you're not, you know, playing where

(16:15):
you think you should be playing, but
at the end of the day, really doesn't matter. And I think,
you know, looking at someone like you that's
accomplished so much with, with the disability
again, as I mentioned earlier, it's, it's extremely
humbling really. Um, and it's
really, it's really, you know,
it's really cool too, you know, to see someone

(16:38):
like you. And, and so as of today,
are you the number one ranked 1 armed
golfer in the world?
Right now? I'm actually ranked number M2.
Number, um, two.

>> RB (16:51):
This person, you want me to beat his ass?

I know I did play in a
tournament in Daytona a couple of weeks ago
and I did beat him by
12 shots. 12 shots.

>> RB (17:03):
How you doing?

Uh, we, I, uh, think when the new rankings
come out, uh, next month will be number
one. We'll go back to number one.
That's, I mean, still with 1 2, 1
2, you know, I mean, it's a
great battle. Yeah.
I also let him know that I'm still number number
one. Just because he played in more

(17:26):
tournaments than me last year doesn't mean
not my number one.

>> RB (17:30):
Man. You're like, that's the thing too. Like, I was watching videos of your
swing the other day and
it's, it's crazy, you know, it's crazy
how your swing's perfect.

Thank you. I appreciate it.

>> RB (17:44):
You're getting it in the right spot. I mean.

Thank you.
But you have to be so strong in ways.

>> RB (17:51):
Yes.

You know what I mean? Because like, of overcompensate. Like
I'm sure your core and your left
shoulder, you know, you're
probably so strong to be able to. I mean,
because you rip it too, you know, like 270.
Yeah, yeah. Um, you know, using
lower body is huge.
And I've learned, um, you know, through soccer and

(18:13):
kicking, uh, how important
to you the ground because that was pretty small if
a kicker. In high school, I was kicking
4050 yard field goals and I weighed 80
pounds and I was with the shoulder
pads and helmet.
That's funny, man.
Using, uh, your lower body. So huge. And that's why

(18:36):
when I teach, I try to make sure people,
uh, you know, I did a club fitting yesterday with a,
with a guy and yeah, the, the
cloak, uh, added 20 yards
to his drive. But now we're
actually gonna go for lessons and
actually use his lower body. More because he

(18:56):
would go, you know, he was a cement, uh, block
on his lower body. I'm like, no, if you. You use your
lower body, you're at 10 to 15
yards more. And so, uh, and that's why I
love working with our members. You know, how do they improve
as well? It's. It's a fun challenge.
Yeah. The lower body certainly is

(19:17):
where it's at in some respect. And I think you look at guys like
Justin Thomas, for example, even McElroy,
but, I mean, they really use that ground for us to get through
it. Um, and I.
I, uh, think for amateur golfers, often they. That's
overlooked clearly, you know, but
at the end of the day, we all know distance, more distance really

(19:39):
isn't the answer.
No, it's all about control.
I, uh, actually changed one thing up in my golf
swing with my shorter iron.
My, um, buddy was looking at it, so I changed it.
Went out on the course and hold out for, ah, for
eagle on number one. Literally, like, 10
minutes after changing, I'm like, it's all about control.

(20:01):
And, like, if I can gain more control, the
distance will take care of itself.

>> RB (20:06):
Yeah, that's the thing,
too. Like, 290 to 300. Like, it's. That's
not that big of a difference.

Right.

>> RB (20:14):
Um, you're trying to get that extra squeeze, that extra 10 yards out
of your swing. Who knows where it's going to go?
But if you can control and hit it 285, 290,
well, then give me the center of the fairway all day.

Yeah. Give me middle at 280 all day. Uh-huh. I'll
take that all day.

>> RB (20:30):
Yeah.

And I guarantee you, you know, you look at the PGA
numbers and obviously the closings are harder and all
that, uh, the setup harder, but, you know, driving
average is around 55%.
That is insane.
Really. Like,
I remember when core way harder. And
I. I think technology has hurt that part of golf

(20:53):
where it doesn't matter how far or. Or how
strict you are now. Um, you know,
as long as you're driving at 3:30, 3,
40 in the rough, you can. I mean, Bryson did that when
he won the US Open.

>> RB (21:06):
I was just gonna say that Bryson's
the. We had his caddy on. On
this podcast, and we were talking about it, and it's
like, you look at Piner's number two, all he did was just hit it
as far as he could down there and
get it on and make a few putts. And, um,
yeah, I mean, like, 7, uh, 16 was a prime

(21:26):
example of. Of that, uh, when.
On that final round. So, um. And there's not.
I mean, don't. There's no rough.

Yeah.

>> RB (21:35):
But at the same time, it takes that element of
being able to control your golf ball.

I saw Bryson, actually, I turned on live golf
this past weekend in the. Under the lights, which
that was. It was kind of
cool.
Yeah.

>> RB (21:50):
They're digging for anything right now.

It was kind of cool with the waste management.

>> RB (21:55):
Digging for anything.

Yeah.
But that. Okay, so let's.
Let's pivot on that, because I agree with you.
Watching the waste management this weekend
was awesome. Like, the
vibe everyone. Like it was. And whenever you
flip it over and I was watching the night Live golf
league thing, you know, whatever it is. It wasn't
that. Other than it being under the lights, it wasn't like

(22:18):
I was, like, rooting for anyone.
Yeah. Or 12 people, you know, came out
to support, too. And you're like. Yeah.
I mean, they had carnival.
I was watching. I'm like, where are the people? Like, where are
they? I don't know, like, Saudi
Arabia or somewhere.

>> RB (22:37):
They should start doing cutouts and just put cutouts around the.
The greens so it looks like there's a lot of people.

Remember that old Tiger Wood commercial where.

>> RB (22:44):
Yeah.

With the cutouts and then the hat coming m. And just
drilled somebody's head off, so they should
do.
Yeah. I don't know.
And I like the guy gone live. It's not the guys that
are playing. I think it's the, um.
The forced
rivalry between the pga, too. Like, if it

(23:06):
wasn't forced, I think it would be way
cooler. Yeah. I mean,
if there was, like, crossroads and cross play
where, hey, like, you know, the top
three or top five love guys get to play in the
Tour Champions.

>> RB (23:22):
Yeah. That's the first time we heard that. That's pretty
good.

That's not a bad idea.
Like, let's see what Kim Kum and, um.
Um, you know, Brian can do at the Tour
Championship.

>> RB (23:33):
Don't get this guy started on Cam Smith over here.
I mean.

Well, yeah.
Yay or no. On, um, camp.

>> RB (23:39):
No, he loves them.

I love him. I was so sad to see him leave, But.
Yeah.
You know, I think. Yeah. And I like Bryson, man. I
really do. Um, dj.
Cool. I've gotten to hang out with DJ as well. Multiple
times.
So. You're right. It's not the people. It's just the whole
exhibit, I guess.
Yeah.
You know, but

(24:01):
so what, like,
when you're golfing, like, are you able
to. What's your go to shot.
I mean, are you. Are you able to curve it? You know, I'm
sure you've learned all of that.
Yeah. So when I drive the ball, I like
to keep it pretty, like low and
straight. Um, maybe with a little bit of

(24:23):
a draw. I do like to work it as well.
I put a new shaft in my driver and I'm
loving it. By
Mizuno. Um, but I
put in a new KBS shaft, and I
absolutely love it. It's a little bit lighter,
but tipped at the bottom.

>> RB (24:43):
Yeah.

And I'm able to swing 100. I
know that. Hey, I'm not gonna lose it, right? Or
not. You know, the fix is not gonna just stay
shut. Um. Um,
it's pretty fun. I was hitting it on the
golf simulator. Uh, we have a golf simulator
at the bar. And we were with the

(25:04):
Mizuno rep, and we were hitting about
3:10, 3:13. Obviously those
things are juiced, but damn. Um,
it looks. It looks pretty fun getting
heckled and all that by the.
By the member. It looked a lot fun.

>> RB (25:21):
Wow.

I mean, hey, they gotta respect your.
You know, you gotta show them why they hired you.
Exactly. Exactly.

>> RB (25:28):
3:10, 3:13.

Yeah, we top the ball.
I thought.
See, I. I think some of those times, those damn things. I was
talking to our guy at the club where Pep and I play
out of, and I. I told him, you know, I think these things
are rigged. Not,
not rigged, but just inaccurate to some degree. But he
disagreed with me. And it came kind of gave me some valid

(25:50):
points for things. And. And I thought, well, you know what? Maybe you're right. Maybe
I am just not hitting it that far anymore.

>> RB (25:56):
Maybe you are just hitting a 265 off the field.

Yeah, fly. I think.
I think what happens is we take the. The
conditions. Weather conditions out of it.
And so even if it's humid, like, today's a perfect
day. It's like 70 and. But there's still gonna
be a little bit of wind or whatever. And,
uh, I think the per. You know, you get perfect
contact every time. Well, you should, I think,

(26:20):
familiar get perfect contact. So those
spin numbers and everything, I think they're actually
more accurate than if you've got a little bit of a
dirty groove and, uh, you've got a little
mud on your ball. And yeah, I think those
numbers. Now the difference is
what you get outside is what you're going to
get. And so at least

(26:42):
for the winter time, understanding, hey, these are
my numbers. Uh, and then going out there
on the course a couple Times before a big tournament.
And. And, yeah, dug that
correlate.

>> RB (26:55):
Well, we're actually coming down your way for a big
tournament. First tournament of the year, um, over
to Pine Needles, Mid Pines.

Yeah.

>> RB (27:04):
You know, the Pine Needles
Invitational. And, um, so it's a
two man, best ball, gross event.
It's, uh, all really good players. It's. It's a blast.
Um, we mosey on down on Thursday morning, play
Pine Needles, Pine Needles, Mid Pines, and hopefully we
make the cut and go to Pine Needles.

Yeah.

>> RB (27:24):
But, um, I saw on some of your social media, you
smacking it around Mid Pines.

I love, uh, Mid Pine. Yeah. I love all those
courses. You know, I'm fortunate to have played
in all three of the United King Adaptive
Opens.

>> RB (27:38):
Yeah.

And the first two were at Pine Herds,
and so we played Pinehurst, number. Oh,
gosh, I should have number six, I think.

>> RB (27:47):
Yeah. And then did you play two?

Uh, no, we didn't play two for the tournament. Bad. I
have played two out there.

>> RB (27:54):
Yeah.

Um, and, uh, but I love Southern Pines
and Mid Pines and Pine Needles. Um, we played all of
those as well. Yeah, Tobacco Road was
beautiful. Uh, I mean, North Carolina
had some amazing.

>> RB (28:07):
So much golf to the mountains.

You go to, you know, Wade Hampton. Uh, and
then you go down to the coast and you got an
absolute stunning golf course, Eagle
Point.

>> RB (28:19):
Um, and that's my point, is
that, you know, we're. We're boxed up here and up. We're in
Pittsburgh, in Morgantown, West Virginia. You know,
we're. We're inside hitting balls, and all of a sudden you let us free
on February 28th. And it. I mean, I scull a
few chip shots here and there in the practice round. Get
those out of the way, Skull a couple bunker shots,

(28:39):
get those out of the way, and then we're tuned in by, um,
Friday.

Yeah, there you go. Well, if you come a
day early, come to my course and, uh,
we'd love to. I think you have to. From
Morgantown, um, swing by Stateville. Oh,
you don't have to.

>> RB (28:55):
I think. Yeah, we'll probably fly, I think. Yeah.

You're fine.
Yeah. It's just easier to come back on
Sunday, you know what I mean?

>> RB (29:04):
We probably could stop in Statesville there, bud.

I might come down your way if you all have an open
day. Like some play, uh, Tobacco Road or
something.
Yeah, well, pep set the trip up for the, uh,
practice round, so.
Oh, okay.
I'd love to have you. Um, but
yeah, we, we, you know, Sunday you get done
playing golf, and for the last Couple years, my partner

(29:27):
and I missed the cut. So we were over at
Southern Pines, which, uh, you
know, nice spot, but by the time
you get done eating a little Mac and cheese and a little fried chicken
sweet tea, it's 3:00.
Now normally, you know, you leave at 3:00, you're not
getting home till 11, so. Oh, yeah, that,

(29:48):
that's the reason why we just started flying down because it makes Sunday
a hell of a lot easier.
But, um, I've got my 12 hour rule if I
can drive within 12 hours. I like to drive,
but, yeah,
it's not fun when you're playing it. You know, I did the
Daytona tournament and just left right after that
and drove eight and a half hours.

>> RB (30:10):
Yeah, not fun.
So that adaptive US Open, uh, is it
qualifiers to get into that? Yeah, uh, yeah,
it's people that might have, you know,
amputated leg or, um,
whatever.
Um, so how many people
qualify for that?

Um, so there's only. You've got
20 automatic qualifiers, um, and
then you've got 70 spots, uh,
available to qualify. And so I
was, I was like some pretty good, good golf
and qualified and um. Yeah,
pretty. Yeah, you're kind of expected

(30:51):
to qualify, but you're still, you know, you still have
to show up and a good day and play. And play. Yeah.

>> RB (30:56):
Um, so what's your best finish
for the Adaptive Open?

Yeah, not very good. I think I finished like 4, 40
40th or something, uh, last year. So, uh, not, not
great.
What other players and
disabilities are in, included in this? I mean.
Yeah, I mean, you've got arm impairment, you got
leg impairment, you've got neurological
impairment, you've got wheelchair, um,

(31:21):
you've got vision impairment.
Um, then you've got intellectual. I think
I said that. So, um, you know, Amy
Brockhurst would. Johnson, uh, drum. She
played. Cody. Ah, he had gone fin drums.
He played. Um, and then you got the
people that shouldn't be playing disable golf
that they play sometimes and you're like, we call

(31:44):
them paper cuts. Um,
and um, okay,
congratulations. You
had uh, one. One guy,
uh, everybody calls him out on it, but he
still shows up. One guy had, um, Tom and Johnson
11 years ago.
He still plays in me.

(32:05):
Oh yeah. Like he, I beat him
to uh, you know, qualify for the worm,
uh, the arm section. I beat him by
two shots. And then he shows up, I'm like, how the
hell. Like, why are you here? I beat you. And
um, um. Yeah, he was like,
well, you know, I got in on uh, a, uh, exemption.

>> RB (32:24):
I'M like, so he has two. So.

Oh yeah. Two hands.

>> RB (32:28):
My man's playing the one arm with two hands.

Oh yeah, Just straight up. And you're like. And
we've called him out on it and all that. So some of those
things need to change. Uh, I think for adaptive off to
grow.

>> RB (32:40):
Why is he showing up though? Like what? Like how does.

If people start involved. He won
the. I think he won the overall arm. I don't know
how he got into the adaptive Open. And then he won the
Armin Care man. And you're like, by
Tommy John.
I mean, the kicker would be someone showed up.

>> RB (32:58):
I snapped my ankle last year.

I honestly thought about reaching to Tiger woods and be like,
hey, can you just play one time?
He could, yeah.
Yeah. But one dude had,
um, a very, very, ah,
very, very mild form of something
and he won. Uh, and I think he
forgot that he was disabled. And then they had to

(33:21):
snap back in it on the other interview.
Is this really what we want representing adaptive
golf?

>> RB (33:29):
It's cool though, that, I mean, take that. All that
BS out of it. It's really cool that
they have the. Who spearheaded that? Was it the
USGA that kind of.

Um, around for 70
years? Um, and nobody really
brought any limelight to it. Hopefully I've been
helping, being a catalyst for it.
Um, and, um, you know. But
yeah, the USGA really spearheaded, you
know, um, they saw the need
for diversity and it was. They

(34:03):
came at a perfect time. I came right back in the middle
of the whole TJ Live drama
and I felt like, you know, that the golf came
together and was really hip hop in golf for a while
and you got to see more of these stories. I
mean, there's this guy, probably the best cable
golfer in the world I, uh, play with. His

(34:23):
name's Isha and he has no legs
from Cameroon. He used to play on the
European, European, uh,
tour. Uh, got
meningitis, got his legs amputated, got
his arm. He had no fingers except for his
left arm. So he literally strapped the
club to the palm of his hand. Got no finger. He

(34:45):
was on his right hand like with a, uh, thing.
And I mean he. He hits about
310, 320. Uh,
went to Iowa, shot 63
and uh, like 71 by like
12 shots. And you're like, this is
a. The representation of
adaptive office that is needed.

(35:06):
Correct.
Um, and so we. I'm working very hard with
him to get his name out there and you
know, I'm fortunate to have sponsors
and we're trying to have. Get him over
from, uh, from, um, Cameroon and play
more adaptive tournaments.

>> RB (35:23):
So who, who are your sponsors right now?

Um, kbx, Yeti Jones
Bag, uh, five, uh, Hundred Club,
uh, Iliac
Laguna. Um,
and then we're. We're working on a apparel
deal. But, yeah, those. Those guys are really, really good
to me.
The apparel deal. It's kind of hard being a head pro.

(35:48):
Yeah, I'm kind of like, you have to
categorize, uh, so that's a little hard.
But, um, right now it's a live
forever golf Jacksonville, um,
Florida. And, um, but, you know, the goal
is to get paid. Uh, and. And
that next step of paying adaptive golf is,

(36:08):
you know, I got my PGA card. I passed
the pat.
I was the only one to do it. Pretty good golfer, like,
you know, why not pay me to be a professional golfer like
everybody else? You know, I'm not asking for millions of dollars,
but something that can support my family and
can support the dreams of one day playing on the
PGA Tour.

>> RB (36:29):
Yeah, it's amazing.

And so we're trying to. Hopefully
I'm a catalyst for not only the
spotlight of adaptive golf, but also getting adaptive
golfers. The golfers that are
better than me. Uh, and I'm not afraid to say that I
like the challenge. Uh, but those leg guys
that can hit 320, 350, you know,
um, I play with a guy, Jordan Thomas, uh,

(36:53):
out of Nashville. Great golfer, great human
beings. Or a nonprofit, um, after
he got his leg, uh, chopped off
and, um, broke and hit at
323 30.
Um, you know, it's a
little. Not unfair, but it's like
320.

>> RB (37:15):
Like, how do.

I don't even say it, but.

>> RB (37:18):
Well, I don't know. How do you. How. How do I hit it
further?

Uh, that's why
I just told him. Don't say it.
I'm giving you the card. The table
card. Well, no recharge.

>> RB (37:33):
I'm gonna. I'm gonna. No, I'm
gonna pull that guy that nobody likes and just say
that. I mean.

Uh, I remember for my buddy who, uh,
he does MMA fighting, uh, with one leg,
uh, and he plays off his name. He ran
for, uh, tenant or state senate, uh,
for Georgia. Big dude. Don't. With
Shay, uh, and B and. And Shay
were on the putting green warming up, and Eli was there,

(38:05):
and then another dude was there that shouldn't be playing the table
golf. And Shay just straight up, you know, me and
Shay are having a conversation, and again, you don't mess
with Shay. But Shane's like, yeah, there's, uh,
definite golf is changing. Like, uh, like,
this guy over here points to Eli, like, this
guy shouldn't be playing in the, uh,
qualifier at all. And Eli

(38:27):
and Shea look at each other.

>> RB (38:29):
I'm like, oh, here we go, boys.

Yeah, we're about to throw down. And then I, you know,
go around. I, uh, start talking to dude. I'm like, oh, dude, like,
who are you counting for? And you go, oh, no, I'm
playing. I'm like, oh.
Like. And then, you know, this guy, like. And, um,
when I tell you, like, there's zero disability.
This Guy was a D1 lacrosse

(38:51):
player, about 340. He
was driving the greens on us. He was in the
group behind me, and I, I. About
13th hole. Yeah, I'm like, in the thick of it. I'm
playing pretty well. I'm two under. I'm like, I swear to
God, one more ball lands on the screen, and one more ball
does. I said, hey, dude, one more time, and I'm throwing your

(39:12):
ball in the water.
Like. Like, yeah, like, I.
Like, no, he didn't do it again. Shot five under,
and he, uh, won. So I'm kind of touching off,
but bro was driving par forward, and I'm like,
yeah, like, playing with the wheelchair guy,
like, this guy Parkinson's and king,
like,

(39:35):
you're just walking up here like nothing. Oh, dude.
Yeah, we've had some chat.
That's.
I do love the adaptive golf community. Like, we'll. We'll call
each other out.

>> RB (39:45):
Yeah, that's good. So what. So what
would you say your handicap is right now?

Being honest, probably right now it's like a.
Probably a three. Uh, you know, last week
or a couple weeks ago, I did a YouTube video, uh, with
some guys and shot seven under, putted
lights out, looked out for a hole in one and
then almost drained, uh, another one. Uh,
and then, Yeah, I had eight burdens.

(40:15):
Damn, it was a good
day yesterday. I shot 300.
Getting better.

>> RB (40:22):
We gotta get you the two man.

And. And, you know,
playing on YouTube is a little bit different.

>> RB (40:31):
We gotta get you in our two man event. Um,
it's in July 27th, 29th,
at 5, uh, Star Resort, Nemicol, and here up here in
Pittsburgh. But what we do is, um, we
got, um, a player blind draw with a B
player.

Okay.

>> RB (40:47):
Um, and then we go do best
ball. And, um, I think last year
John Barry, ex NBA player, won with,
um, Eddie. Amen. Just
a normal guy.
Um, but this year, the pot's gonna
be 20, 000 bucks. Top three spots get paid out.
So, um, we'll. We'll figure the

(41:08):
details out with you, get you up there because I think that it would be
fun to have you there and compete.
And um.

Yeah, you know, that
we, we uh, gotta thank Steve
Piering, you know, and.
I was just about to shout out my boy, so I
couldn't say anything just yet. Uh, but yeah,
Asher golf apparel stuff,
it's coming.

>> RB (41:33):
So. Yeah, so of course, Steve. Of course. Yeah.

Steve's awesome. How y'all know Steve?

>> RB (41:37):
Oh, uh, uh, by default.

Okay.

>> RB (41:40):
He was sitting in his car at a country club one time
by himself and he got out trying to sell his golf shirts.
Um, it's like chasing us down. It was
like. Dude, it was recycled
cotton. But, um. No, it's just
kidding. We met him through, uh, we met him through
Hank Ashworth.

Okay.

>> RB (41:59):
Uh, when they had link soul. And, and
um. So yeah, Steve's. Steve's a good dude.
Really good dude. Um,
means well, friends all of us.

So he's fun to be around. And honestly, he's always down for
golf. Oh, yeah. You need the guy like that.
You know what I mean? You need the guy that will play golf no matter
the circumstance.
Hm.
Uh, and that's Steve Piering, man.
I mean, but the heavy stuff's not coming down for a
while.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly.

>> RB (42:27):
During COVID we played at Pete Dye Golf Club.
Uh, and Steve drove four and a half hours
from Philly to play golf and then
drove back like right after.

Okay.
Yeah, he's that guy.
I think I've been about four half hours for a girl,
but not for girls.

>> RB (42:48):
There you go.

Wait, are you, are you married?
No, I, I used to be. Got, uh, divorced
and got to play a lot more golf, so.
Okay, I understand.
Um, yeah, yeah, it was one of
those, uh, chasing dreams. I've got a non profit next. Uh,
started doing golf and then we just are another
one. And some people are on your team
and others hop off the train and

(43:12):
decide to hop off and just
change full scheme ahead. But I've got an amazing
girlfriend right now and um, she's very, very
supportive. And that's great golf. Which
is rare because I've never had a girl that likes
golf either. So it's been pretty cool.

>> RB (43:28):
Yeah. Why don't they like golf? Like, I don't get that.

This one right now. Elizabeth
loved golf and we actually got to go play for the first
time together. And so,
uh, it's pretty cool.

>> RB (43:42):
That's awesome. Good.

Yeah, no, I mean, I think I think golf's grown.
I love seeing what golf
is doing, you know, for, for
the example,
the, what do you call it? The adaption.
Adapt option. Golfer.
Yeah.
Adaptive golf. Like that's remarkable,

(44:04):
man.
Now, it does kind of rub me the wrong way that you
got some people, you know, that uh, maybe shouldn't be playing
it, but what's the movie with Giant?
Giant, uh, Knox.
Um, the only one I know is.
Jackass Johnny, uh, Knoxville with,
um. Oh my God. Um,
the Special Olympics.

(44:26):
Oh, you, um, know what I'm talking about.

>> RB (44:28):
Yep.

Oh my God, I've watched it. Um,
I don't know. He, he
runs in the Special Olympics.

>> RB (44:36):
The Ringer.

The Ringer, yeah, there's some ringers
out there. The Ringer. I love that movie. I haven't
watched it a while, but yeah, definitely, definitely a couple
ringers out there where you're like. Yeah.
So do you think you're, uh, you'll try to
Monday queue into some of these events in the future?
Yeah, so my goal, um, and I

(44:58):
think we're getting closer and closer. Get a little bit better at
golf and I'm gonna, you know, I've got my PGA card, so
I'm gonna try. I would love to play in the PGA
Championship.

>> RB (45:07):
That's uh, my life goal to qualify through
the pga.

Yeah, I think that would be
amazing. Uh, you know, not only represent,
um, the usga, the pga,
golf in general, disabled golf, uh,
but also, you know, those, those journeymen,
those guys that dreamed about doing it and
uh, worked hard and did it
and um, uh, just be able to

(45:34):
qualify. It's humbling to be able to
qualify for the UXGA Adaptive.
Um, it would just mean a lot to me,
uh, if I can do.

>> RB (45:43):
A PGA change, would that be awesome?

That would be so good. You know, I just thought of
something. You, John Daly loves
hitting left handed wedge shots.

>> RB (45:53):
Mhm.

Oh yeah. I mean, that would be good to see you
two in a little competition.
I would love it. Let's make it happen.

>> RB (46:02):
We might be able to make that happen.

Yeah, I would love to. I'm going down,
uh, Monday and Tuesday of the
Masters. Um, I might go to
Hooters real quick and yeah, if he would do.

>> RB (46:14):
A little triple, we might be able to. If we meet you in
Nashville. Yeah, we could do that
at Old Hickory Country Club.

Oh, yeah. Wait, wait, let me know. I love
Holy Hickory. The last job I had
was in Nashville. Murphysboro.

>> RB (46:29):
Oh, really?

Oh, really. I know a couple of the corgs you got there and
uh, Hermitage is really Fun to play. And
governor, uh, is responding. So.
Yeah, Pep normally wears his Troubadour
hat, but today he's wearing his Grove hat.
So very jealous of, uh, of that.
Um, you know, uh, uh, when did you
play Grove?

>> RB (46:51):
Last year. We both went down there with our
buddy Nick Sorkin and. And played Grove
two days. Um, and it was a blast.
It was fun.

Let me know if you need a caddy for the next one.

>> RB (47:04):
No, you're not caddy. And you're gonna. You're gonna be my
moneyball.

There you go. Hey, I would love. My goal is
to. And the owner of the course played for
Michael a good bit. I'm like, just let me play
nine holes with Michael. Don't tell him about, uh, anything
about. Put your house on it. Put a couple, you
know, give me about four shots.
Uh, yeah.

>> RB (47:26):
You're gonna kick Michael Jordan's ass. I love it.

Oh, absolutely. I'll do it at the Grove. I'll do
it Muni.
Tell me I love it. That is. That's the
confidence we need. Like, I. Oh, absolutely.
Yeah.
I'm kind of jacked right now. Like, I don't.
I'm gonna go hit a golf ball somewhere.

>> RB (47:45):
Dude, we're gonna play 20. 20, 20 at Pine
Needles here in about two weeks.

Yo, that's so funny. You know what? Hey, Alex,
we. When we go into this tournament that we're playing in a couple
weeks, we're all. We're all jonesing for golf, right?
So. Yeah.
Um, and then the first round goes great. Second
round's always at Mid Pines on Saturday.
Okay.
And for whatever reason, my partner and I.
Which. My partner could theoretically play in the senior

(48:10):
division. He's over 50.

>> RB (48:12):
He should.

But I love my partner.

>> RB (48:14):
You and I. And. And you and I could have teamed up this year
because.

On you. Correct. But, uh, long story short,
yeah, he filled. He filled that spot immediately.
But we get to Mid Pines, and we're. I'm circling back on
Mid Pines, and that is just a great, great
course. I mean, Pep has experience there like no other, you know?
Yeah.

(48:38):
Having a stomachache. And middle 15 fairway. But any
rate, we just never get it done at Mid Pines.
I mean, we just never can get it done. We're always, like, one
over, and everyone tears it up.
Uh, like, and. And so for the last three years, we've
been playing decent at Needles. On day one,
couple. Wonder.
Yeah.
Day two, nothing. And then day three, we're over there

(49:00):
at the Moose Club. We're over at Southern Pines.
But it's A great
track.

>> RB (49:07):
Yeah, it is true, though, because, like,
I wish they had, uh, the first round mid Pines,
because then you could potentially get
it back or play better. Dude,
everybody takes it so deep at Mid Pines.
Yeah, I think we played, we played with the winners last year at Mid
Pines. They shot like nine under, best ball,

(49:27):
and it was like an absolute show.

Yeah, well, I mean, you got those par
fives that, you know, theoretically you could. You gotta get up
into.
You got, you gotta be able.

>> RB (49:38):
A 4, 5, 6, 7. You gotta take
advantage.

You gotta take it.
You gotta be able to make it happen.
Well, Alex, man, it's been, um, awesome getting
to meet you. And I know you know this is virtual,
but I would enjoy meeting you in human form at some point.
But, um, it was awesome hearing your. Awesome
hearing your story. And.
And we're gonna finish this off here with our standard tap
in segment presented by BET Nardi Golf. Check him out

(50:04):
online@bet nardi.com. pep's gonna ask you
a couple questions here that might, uh, make you think
a little.
I like it.
Probably not though, because he doesn't ask good questions. I'm
kidding.

>> RB (50:17):
Favorite club in the bag.

Driver.

>> RB (50:22):
Tell us your, your buildup of the driver specs, all
that. Don't.

Don't judge me. It's a, uh,
14°, um,
Mizuno FT Max.
Uh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I used to tee the
ball up really high, like 4 inch tees, and then I
had a ping that I would just turn up on. Uh,
and that was fun. But I'm getting old now and,
um, you know, um.

(50:48):
Yeah, sounds like you're getting better.
Yeah, we are getting better, actually.

>> RB (50:53):
Advice to a younger version of yourself.

Uh,
don't get married at 26.

>> RB (51:06):
All right?
Dream, um, foursome, Dead or alive.

My dad, um,
Aleister McKenzie.

>> RB (51:20):
Oh, that's an interesting one.

Yeah.
Pink Stewart. Bingo.
Ah, that's a good one.
I would, I would chew up Alex, uh,
mc. I love
Golf Course in God. I want to one day hit the lottery and
build my own golf course.
I would love it. I love what Core Crenshaw is doing.

(51:44):
I love, um, you know, uh, Radio
Doom coming out in Denver.
Um, and then, uh, yeah, Cory Crenshaw's doing
some amazing work right now, but I mean, Alex
M. Alexer McKenzie. And then, uh,
um, who's the guy? Um.

(52:04):
Aw.

>> RB (52:05):
Uh, Tilling House.

Yeah. Beautiful.

>> RB (52:08):
Yeah. You've been there.

No, I want to. I've gotten invited and I
just. I got invited, so don't judge me. But
I got invited and then the And I text the
guy back. I'm like, hey, we'd love to, you know, like,
let's m. Make it happen. And then he died.
Yeah.
Terrible.
We got older. Older member that invited me.

>> RB (52:29):
I'm like, that's awful.

Yeah, I definitely wouldn't play Pine Valley.

>> RB (52:34):
It's a goodie. Um, the.
The last question is, what are you
chasing?

Um, personal
growth this year? Like, I want to.
Personally. Yeah. I've given up and sacrificed so much for
golf, and I want to make sure that
I am the best human that I
can be, both mentally, physically,
and emotionally. That. Yeah, I can. I can
be, you know, a great head pro to.

(53:02):
Yeah.
Members here at the 500. But I can also,
you know, um, support. Adapt to golf and promote
it, and also, you know, just for me
personally, and just, um, you know, have fun.

>> RB (53:14):
Yeah.

Playing golf and showing up to a tournament and not having
that pressure of I can't,
um. And. And just showing up and
having fun. The first two or three years when you played
really good, you know, that was just fun. You showed up.
Yeah.
Good buddies. You play golf and you get their ass,
and we got to, you know, number

(53:36):
one.

>> RB (53:36):
And that's. I think that's the thing, that
things are always more enjoyable when you're having fun. Even
if it's not going, uh, the way you thought it
would be going, you're having fun, whether it's in
business, life, on the course, in your
relationships.

Yeah.

>> RB (53:52):
Just have fun.

Yeah.

>> RB (53:54):
Sometimes I get away from that, so.

And having a team around you is huge,
and having people that you can trust, uh,
because I've gotten through by agents before and
all that, and it's just not fun not being able to
trust your support, you know, team.

>> RB (54:11):
Right.

Um, and, you know, luckily, I've been
able to, um, have
less friends, but the friends I do have are. Are
more important, and, uh, their advice is, uh,
more impactful. Um, I know that they're there
for me.
Yeah. It's true. Quality over
quantity.

>> RB (54:31):
I love it, man. I absolutely love this. This is a
blast. And, um, great story.
I mean, it's. It's a great story. It is. It's a. It's a story
of never giving up. And,
uh. Yeah.
So thank you so much for, uh, coming on.

Yeah. Alex, man, keep doing it, man. Keep. Keep chasing
your dreams. And. And, you know, you're very humble and
successful in that regard, and obviously love your love
for golf, and you're changing the game. You're impacting people.

>> RB (55:00):
You're.

You're an inspiration to a Lot of people people, man. Truthfully,
so hats off to you and um,
you know, like I said earlier, hope to meet you at some point and, and appreciate
you. You coming on here today.
I. I appreciate y'all. Ah, thank you so much for letting
me share the story.

>> RB (55:19):
Man. You talk about inspiration, um, but you
also Alex, you could tell he doesn't feel bad for himself,
man.

It's no.

>> RB (55:27):
What he was dealt. And he's. He even said that
he's tried every sport there is. Um,
and he must be pretty darn athletic. I mean, he's.
He's hitting it over 300 one arm
boys, so. Yeah, that's impressive.
Um, first head pro,
um, he was just named head Pro to 500

(55:47):
Club. And I just looked that
club up. It looks pretty sick. So, uh, we might have to mosey on
down there to see Alex in his
spot.

Yeah, for sure. No, he.
Yeah, it's it's just like I said a couple times, it's just
very humbling because we, we get out and play golf, you know, and we
all get agitated on little things like that,
you know, but in the grand scheme of things,
you know, there's, there's people out there, not just him, but the
whole adaptive tour circuit, you know, it's like guys

(56:18):
love the game of golf and that's the common
denominator between all of us. But, uh, at the end of the
day, we have, you know, uh, an
advantage, if you will, relative to our body components.
But I mean it's. It's a. If you
watch like I got on YouTube a little bit and watched
some interviews with him. He golf dodge just did a great write up about
him and uh, some videos of his swing. Dude, his

(56:40):
swing is like perfect. Like it is like.
Exactly. Yeah, it's is right on
plane.
So Alex, thanks so much for joining us
here on Chasing Birdies and good
luck with your endeavors in
golf and well, guess.

>> RB (56:57):
But guess what's right around the corner.

Pinehurst.

>> RB (57:01):
Pinehurst.

Pine Needles Invitational.

>> RB (57:03):
Pine Needles Invitational is right around the
corner. I'm coming in with a new dancing partner this
year, Gary Sisson.
Um, so I'm excited for
this and, uh, I know
Neil and Tango are kind of on the cusp of.
They kind of got to do something this year, boys. Yeah,
uh, I can't pull any more

(57:25):
strings, so to speak. Um, get the
boys back in. You gotta make the cut.
So you're gonna feel a little pressure there will be
fun to follow along with that. I'm sure we'll do some content
following the Boys around a little bit.

We got a great little field too. We got Ryan Mason and Woody
Woodward joining the tournament this year. So those
are two sticks. And, uh, I'm sure
Woody likes hearing that about himself. So, Woody, you're a great
stick. So it's going to be fun, man. Hopefully
Ian and I can make a couple birdies. Um, my boy
ipa, like you said, he should be in the senior division. But you know
what, we're going to champion it this year. We're going to take and we're

(58:01):
gonna run it back and try to make the cut. But I've been trying
to get some practice swings in pep. Trying to stay on
your level. I know you've had a couple times you've got to go out and play
golf. Like you said, Arizona and whatnot. But I've been really
utilizing the indoor hitting phase at the Nemicolon
Golf Academy with Trackman and Jaren's
up there and everything's great. So if you guys

(58:22):
in in the area, north central, West
Virginia, Southwest Pacific or anywhere, really, make sure
you check out Nemicolon Resort in Farmington,
Pennsylvania. Five star all around golf is
amazing. Indoor golf's great restaurants,
the accommodations, world gusto. I mean,
it's just, they're on fire right now. So check them out

(58:42):
online@nemacolin.com
and that is the home of our
2025 Jason Birdies 2
Man.

>> RB (58:52):
Another shout out I want to give which, um, is
Eric Childers. Like, my man just loaded it
off, loaded us up
for 2025.

My, uh, guy.

>> RB (59:05):
The Pro V1. You switched to the Pro V1. You were normally
a Pro V1X. I had
the prototype, uh, for you to try last year.
You loved it into the wind. Um, and you said,
you know what, I'm rolling with this one. So, uh, we're both
using the Titleist Pro V1s. Make sure you go check them
out. Um, I know Everybody uses Pro V1s or Pro

(59:25):
V1x's, so it's not like we're discovering something
new. But I am telling you that Pro V1 ball is
the best ball I have ever played. Uh, the
2025 version. So Childers, thanks,
baby.

Yeah, absolutely. Childers, uh,
you're awesome and we appreciate it very much.
And since you're on the shout out kick, I do got to give one more shout out here
to a local guy. Reached out, wanted me to drop something
here on Chasing Birdies. Patrick Oliverio with
Oliveira's Restaurant in Morgantown opened a brand new
Cheat Lake location of Oliveira.

(59:57):
So for the people in West Virginia, I know a lot of you guys are listening to
this podcast. Oliveira's opened up here in Cheat
Lake. Pierpoint Plaza, man, you got to go check them out. It's a great
spot for lunch, great spot for dinner, and the pizzas are
dynamite. Handmade dough tossed in the air. Feels like you're in
New York. So come on over to
Oliveiros and get yourself some. Some dinner here if you're
in town. Yeah, it's pretty awesome.

>> RB (01:00:19):
Good for him.

>> Jonathan (01:00:20):
Pretty dope. Yeah. Yeah, he's stoked about it. But food
there.

>> RB (01:00:23):
Um, but without further ado, my man, I
know that you got to go put your butt in the sand for a little bit,
um, wind down your trip, but
until what? In two weeks?

>> Jonathan (01:00:35):
Yeah, we will be back in two weeks.

>> RB (01:00:37):
So we'll be back on schedule. We got off a little
bit, but we're back chasing underscore birdies. Make
sure you like it, tap it, follow along.
And you know what? Stay tuned on Chasing birdies, too,
man. We might. We might give a little giveaway. I haven't even
talked to you about that, but maybe we do a little giveaway to give somebody a
spot into it. Um.

>> Jonathan (01:00:58):
Here we go.

>> RB (01:00:59):
Yeah.

>> Jonathan (01:00:59):
So, yeah, good things ahead,
guys. And as always, we appreciate you tuning
in here on Chasing Birdies. And. And this week, if
you're tuning into some golf. The Genesis Open Genesis
Invitational's taking place in San Diego, Torrey Pines,
and the man in is playing this week. We've got
Tiger in the field.

>> RB (01:01:18):
This makes me hurt watching him play, but whatever.

>> Jonathan (01:01:21):
So let's see what happens with him. But
without anything else I need to say, again,
appreciate all the love support, listeners. You
guys are great. And thank you to Ally, Emily
Evo at Simpler Media for putting this together. Jacqueline
DiPaterio, Rachel London, for all your social media
help. And you guys have a great, blessed
weekend, and we will catch y'all in

(01:01:43):
2J.
Hm.

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A One-Armed Journey - Alex Fourie

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}A One-Armed Journey - Alex Fourie